Meat-slitting machine



Jan.- 1, 1935. J. P. SPANG 1,986,076

MEAT SLITTING MACHINE Filed Feb. 9, 1935 Z Sheets-Sheet l lnvenTor;

Joseph I3. Spong WMMQM Aysr.

Jan.1,1935. .i P PANG l 1,986,076

MEAT SLITTING MACHINE Filed Feb. 9, 1933 3 Sheets-Sheefl 3 35 A Inventor. y Uoseph F? Spong ATTys.

Patented Jan. l, 1935 STATES Appunti@ February 9, 1,933, (,651 924;!

" `1o claims. (01.17-26) y, This invention'relatesl to machines `l f'or .slitting meat ,and` yity has forjts [general obj ectv` to fprovide an improvemmaehine which isreonstructed to out afseries,ofparallel'slits oniboth sidesxoffaslice 5 of; meat andin such. a fwaythat :some: at leastfof the; slits oneach side of the meat will haveV an overlapping relationto slits, formed inthe opposite side ofthe mea t.` i

- lSome Vniente.slitting machines arec cmstru'cted and 'with'. means to ;feed the meat-pastthe knives so that the knives will out in onel iacleoi,` the lmeat a series of` parallel slits, each of i which-extends" nearly but not quite through the slice of meat;v 5 A piece 'of meat which is slit `with Atlfiis'typeofmeatgA slitting 3 machineV will have athin filml of unslit meaton one face which serve stoholdfthe'piece of iilm of unsliti mea-t oppositey each-slit.; Where ithe i slittingfis done from bothv sides this film: or; the unsliti portions `oigthe ,meat opposite `Veach Slit have a ,ista'ggered relation 4and are not4 located; al1 in one plane .-as; in the casewhere thegslitting Wall 'done' on 'one 'sidefoffthe meat. l As ka, result, yiff @tliemeat contains an-ly.; vein of atough o r gristly` 'natur-e such' vein i will i'be `cut by :some ofcthe slits and there is no possibility thatl the slice of bmeat fafte'r it fhas been'slit.Will'contain` an .uncut or'uns'litvein orftough portion. ."4 A "lWhile the slitting i of` the meat" -operates 'tocut ftlieiough brsprj 'cough "pornns ofc the meat -tlfis rendering *itl more o tender, yet it has f the furtherx and important yadventage'that the.4 slits previd fidditinel eqkinssurfecewhieh.results 'givin Vthe meat a benenv nayor'fwhen brud. lable navorof'a b roiled` steaky results i'tentfromthe flavor of Ithe toasted E .ucfepil'the steak. Where a steak or Yslice of n'i'eatl is provided4 with af"pluralityf.ofU par:-y i 4alle'l slits, Vtl'ieAW/allsfof theslits4 prfvidela addil.tional surace which is exposed to `the heat', in tlibroiling operationand which becomes toasted sol lia'tfasteaky orsliceof vmeat whichr has been sli will have'a much l,largertoasted ,surfaceand l betterjiiavorthanja steak Whichhas `not been sii, Whse, me Seereisen@ @ii both. sisef.

i Y. 1,986,6*16-5 1 s j MEAfr-'sLlTTING Joseph P.-S1m.ng,l Quincy,1Mass the steak` of meat then surface is still-futherincreased.; 1; .In ordert fiiiiy 'I haven11h15iifiitdfl in' ;-.;th e; -sirewiiiss' Some. selected embodiments thereof -which'wvillnow be described, after .which the nvsl features will be pomtedgoutainthe-appenddlaims i Fig.- y1v is a side view. ofja meatgslit i Showing one form ofitheiinventie' Fig. 2 is a section 'onthe line Steak' chineQshown in Fig.,2; y i; Fig; -i isaperspective,view,ofFig:3;,` j; Fig. 5 yis a fragmentary'sectional view; showing 4a,dierentAembodimentgof thej-'inventiom l r slice of. meat which illes, been 'slitby the mae' Fig.' 7 is a :fragmentaryV perspective view offga Y .portion 1 of .asteakv or slice;4 of meat which has videdjwith twosets or gangsaof rotary-knives ,whichfgare .:indicated.g.at 1.nalidQZ.,reSpeCtVClY-' K i These sets vof rrotary knives are rotatably mount# ed inV asuitableiramework 3; the Se,i-.0,f ,knives llwbeirig carried by a shaft .1 andthe' Setof. knives Zjbeing'earried byanotherfshaft. Bothofthese means also ,functionsas ai;strippingf'means to strip the rmeat from-theyknives incasefsaid meat .tends testick @the knives;

The 'meatfeeding means coniprses.

ed on shafts- 10 and v11 respectively thatar'ejour- Vnailed the frame..,flhecylindrical members 8 solposiiiohsn wie i-,fraiefiiitiiie'l @decent portions. of the cylinlricalsuri aces thereof yare spacedyapart aldistance edual to `the thickness of the slice of meat. These meat-feenlingcyl--` finderhsopr;` .members l:8 and 9. are, capablepf being n rotated in [opposite directions and the x.frictional engagement iiiereefi iiiiiiihe iFP-ieee: :heiem The device lshown inzfFigf-l is ,providefivith meat-feeding means for feeding the meat` be- `and Shave. a :larger diameter- @han that@ the slitting knives 1 `and V'2 andsthese mempers are faces of the slice of meat will serve to feed the meat forward as said members are rotated.

Said members are provided with slits through which the knives project.

Any suitable means for rotating the meatfeeding members 8 and 9 and the rotary knives 1 and 2 may be employed. As herein shown the shaft 10 is provided on one end with a handle'lB by which it mayberotated. On the other end the shalt Y1D fis-,provided with a sprocket wheel 14 which "is geared'by'a sprocket chain 15 to a small sprocket chain 16 fast on the shaft 5.

With this arrangement the shaft 5 and its knives 2 will be rotated from the shaft 10 .but-because of the relative sizes of the sprockets`l4'and '16 the knives 2 will'rotate at a much greater :sur-

1 and-'2 will be rotated-at the fsaime speed vwhile the two feeding members i8" and 39 will xalscbe rotated at the 'same speedfbutthe ;surface V.speed off *the 'knives il' 'andfz Awill be much greater than that of 4thefeedingfmexrihers B and '9 so V.that

bothsets of knives :willste .nie meer with a slicing 'l The knives ll/areshewn as" staggered with relation itol vthe lkni-vesf-E v{asbes't seen iny Fig. I'21s@ that eachlof the knlvesfl iis -situatedbetween -two 'adjacent knives 2. Furthermore-fthe portions of -the knives which 'are actingon the' meat'have an 'overlapping relation as xseen :in 2. l

The upper set of knives l cut rslits '22 in the upper side of 'the-slice of meatl, such slits -beifng out nearly throughthe meat Yso'tnat there willbe a thin uncut lp'ortion'23' on the under face of the slice e vopposite'each slice 122, fthe lower under set Iof knives 2 fcut' slits lllinffthe under side fo'f zthe 'slice-'6, saiid "sl-its 324 extending through the slice so that there is a thin uncut portion .'2'5 -at 'the top surface leftllie lmeat opposite Ieach-slit.`

The slits 22a-rid 124'fthus overlapeachfother fand 'the-flm or uncut-"portion o'f meat'WhiCh holdsithe meat together is partially on'fthe upper surface of tthe'fmeat"and `partially on the flower surface thereof. f Vln Ausinga slitting machme of this Ltype it `'is customary'ito feed lrthe rneat past the knives twice fand Ato'turn-the meat-between -the twoss'litting operations so that the'slit's which are -out inthe vsecond 'feeding movement/of the -meatwill fbe at "right angles to those madedurin'g the rs't 'feeding movement. `With lthis double slitting of the meat each face -of the slice '6 will be Islit -in two differentjdirectionsa'sshowniin rFigs. 1B and^4 and the slits onj'one 'face'fthe meathaveastaggered 'relation relative to thecorresponding `slits Vwhich 'are formed 'in theother face of the meat. This willgve the slit meat the appearance 5s'hownfin The dotted 'lines in Figg represent thefslits formed inf-the; underside -ofithemeat and Vthe `fu11 knife in 'the lgang surface of the meat. An advantage resulting from this manner of slitting the meat is that if the meat has any vein or streak which is gristly or tough such vein or streak will be slit or cut in two directions by either the upper slits 22 or the lower slits 24 or both and yet the slitting of the meat is done so that the slice will hold together even after it has been slit on both faces.

In Figs. 5 and 6 I have shown a different embodiment of the :invention wherein 'both shallow and deep slits are made in eachface of the slice -of meat, the shallow slits in one face being opposed to a deep slit in the other face, and the vopposedslits being separated by a thin uncut film of meat. In the construction shown in Figs. ando there fare two gangs of rotary knives indicated .generallyat `26 and 2'7, these knives being ymounted uponshafts '28, 29 which are suitably 'knives 31' of larger `ldiameter `and 30 of `smaller diameter,'thelargerand smaller knives 31 land 30 ,alternating Aso that there will be a `small "knife 30 between each two adjacent large lknives 31 and conversely fa largel knife 3l between leach two 'adjacent smaller xknives 30. v

'These' two sets -of knives are so arranged that vthere will `be a large knife B1 o'f'the gang T27 voppsite each Ismaller knife 30 of the lgan-g 26 and a small lkn'i-fevin the -gang 127 opposite -each larger 26. This '-is :clearly shown in Fig?. "6. y

The device shown in Fig. 6 has meat-fding :meansfs'irn'ilar '-to 'thatshown in Figs. 1 and 2 -lfor feedingflthe meat 6-pas`t 'the knives. -'Said lineartfeed-ing means are shown lin a fragmentary way at f8 and' 9'. When theislice o'f meat 6 is'fed :between the 'knives there will be formed inthe upper sur- Tface thereof Ia se'ries 4of deeper slits 132 formed :by the knives v31 `o'f the gang -26 and a seriescf shallower-slits 33 'formed by the' knivesSO fof Vsaid gang. l

"There will 4als'obe 'formed in the under side lof Athe slice 4tavseries lof deeper-:slits B4 formed the larger knives 31 of the gang irlanda .series :of `shallo'wer 'slits '35 f crmed 'by -the smaller -knives thin film :or uncut portion 36 fof .meat between f eachpair of opposed slits. l f f Because .of the .arrangement .of knives :these ythin uncut portions 36 .between opposed yslits will have. a staggered relation as indicated best in` Fig. rI. An advantageo'f lthis arrangement is' that if the slice of meat contains any vein which is 'of a tough or gristly'nature such vein will be sure to be cutby someof the slits.

1t is intended that after the meat has been passed through 'the slitting machine once to funn 'a series .of parallel 'slits in both -sides of the meat, ksaid slice Vof meat Awill `be passed through themav'chine la second time to give it a second series of slits which 'cross those made when the meat was vpassed through the machine the nrst'time, therevSM ses

by giving the meat the slit appearance shown in Fig. 7.

' I claim. y

1. A'meat-slitting machine comprising two sets of rotary slittingr knives, and means to` feed a slice .of meat between said sets of knives, each set of knives presenting knives of dii-ferent diameters, whereby slits of different depths will be'v cut in each face of said slice of meat. 'f

2. A meat-slitting machine having two gangs of rotary slitting knives and means to feed the4 slice of meat between said gangs of knives, each gang of knives comprising knives of two different diameters, the knives of smaller diameter of each gang being'situated opposite to but spaced from the knives of larger diameter of the other. gang.

3. A machine for slitting meat comprising two meat-feeding members between which the meat is fed, each member having an arcuate meat-feeding face to engage the meat, means to move the faces forward thereby to move the meat forward, and means to cut in each face of the meat as it is fed forward a series of slits extending partially through the meat and in the direction of feed.

4. A machine for slitting meat comprising two meat-feeding members between which the meat is fed, each member having an arcuate meatfeeding face -to engage the meat, means to move the faces forward thereby to move the meat forward, and means to cut in each face of the meat as it is fed forward a series of slits extending partially through the meat and in the direction of feed, and with the slits in one face .overlapping those in the other face.

5. A machine for slitting meat comprising two meat-feeding members between which the meat is fed, each member having a rigid curved meatfeeding face, means to move thefaces forward thereby to feed the meat forward, two sets of rotary knives, one acting on each face of the meat as itis fed forward and cutting therein slits extending in the direction of feed.

6. A machine for slitting meat comprising two meat-feeding members between which the meat is fed, each member having a rigid curved meatfeeding face, means to move the faces forward thereby to feed the meat forward, two sets of rotary knives, 'one actingon each face of the meat as it is fed forward, and means torotate the knives with val surface speed greater than that of the meat-feeding members, whereby the knives cut slits in the meat in the direction of feed.

7. A meat-slitting machine comprising rtwo meat-,feeding members,vone above the Aother bektween which the meat is fed, each member having an arcuate meat-feeding face and a plurality of knife-receiving slots, means to move the 'meat-.-

feeding faces forward thereby to feed the meat` forward, and a set of knivesfextending through the slots of each meat-feeding member and operating to cut slits in the meat which extend par-'-4 tially but not entirely therethrough as` the meat is fed forward.`

8. A meat-slitting machine comprising two meat-feeding members, one above the other be-l tween which the meat is fed, each member having an arcuate meat-feeding face and a plurality vof knife-receiving slots, a set of. rotaryfknive's` for each meatffeeding member, each set of knives being rotatable about 'agxed axis and operating through the slots of the corresponding Vmeatfeeding member, and means to rotate the knives.V

9. A meat-slitting machine lcomprising two meat-feeding members, one above theA other befeeding member, and means to rotate the knives with a greater surface speed than that of the meat-feeding members.

means to feed a slice of meat forward, andmeans to mitin each side of said piece of meat as it isi fed forward a series of parallel slits extending inI the direction of -the' feeding-movement, each slit on one side of the meat being located between two 10. A lmachine for `slitting meat comprising` adjacent slits on the opposite side, andsome at A yleast of the slitsv on each side having aldepth sufficient so that ,they overlap slits formed o'ntheother side.

JOSEPH P. SPANG'. i n 

